Public
Education-
Challenges and Opportunities . . .
With
the start of the school year fast approaching it is time for educators,
families and students to begin preparing for another year of teaching and
learning. Educators in Wisconsin find themselves pulled between
different aspects of the educational enterprise. At its most basic level we are preparing for
this year just like we would any other.
There are classrooms to set up, curriculum to prepare and new students,
families and colleagues to meet. Despite
all the upheaval and the many changes in the educational landscape, there is a
certain stability and reassuring quality about the start of a school year. New school supplies, new material to
learn/teach and a chance for a fresh start all provide hope and
opportunity.
At
the same time, we can't forget the many challenges and conflict that surround
our public schools, public educators and the students we serve. While many prepare to make this a successful
school year, we are still seeing the movement to privatize public education
exercise its considerable political clout.
We are also seeing and feeling the impact of the policy battles that
have been ongoing for the past few years.
All of these "reform" efforts put pressure on educators and
impact students, rarely in a positive way.
Unfortunately,
we see too much fighting for the wrong reasons about the wrong issues. The attacks on public educators are one clear
example of this phenomena. The movement
to attack teacher "tenure" has taken off and is yet another instance
of the use of "common sense" and righteous outrage used for political
and economic advantage. Educators in America's
public schools are held accountable in many ways and we don't have unlimited,
universal protections once we have worked beyond our probationary periods. The misconceptions around "just
cause" and other legal protections that educators enjoy provide fodder for
those who would bash educators and replace qualified professionals with the
equivalent of "educational temp workers." These less experienced, minimally trained
employees are cheaper and less vocal in their critiques of new policies that
serve to increase the profitability of education and reduce the quality of
instruction for many students (especially minority students and students of
poverty).
David Boies, who helped lead the legal charge that
overturned California’s
same-sex marriage ban and represented Al Gore in Bush v. Gore is becoming
chairman of the Partnership for…
nytimes.com|By Motoko Rich
Hosts of "The View" caused a stir in the education
world this week after…
m.huffpost.com
The
conflicts over the Common Core Standards are continuing and will escalate in
the near future. Make no mistake,
standards are necessary and we need to have a conversation around what our
students should know and how to assess their progress. Yet, the political battles around the
standards are not benefiting students, but are lining the pockets of
educational profiteers and shifting the balance of power away from classrooms
and into legislatures and boardrooms.
All of the conflict has created a volatile climate that has impacted
educators' abilities to prepare for, teach and assess students.
Our daily afternoon roundup of the best stuff on
captimes.com and beyond.
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
Slekar slams officials for making a political tactic out of
the change in education...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
We need to have a
discussion about the standards, but that conversation should be lead by
classroom educators, not politicians or businesspeople. We can't forget that anything that impacts
public education will have a significant effect on our most at-risk
populations. Decisions about education
shouldn't be made for profit, or by people who don't work on a daily basis with
students.
The corporate under-written Common Core standards and tests
are at best a...
huffingtonpost.com
In an excerpt from her book Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch
reveals the individuals and corporations behind education reform movement.
billmoyers.com
If we look at the
standards carefully and craft standards that meet the needs of our students then
we will see more successful outcomes for everyone. Simply increasing "rigor" or making
assessments more difficult will not make our students smarter, increase the
engagement of students or educators, or provide an environment that produces
productive, positive citizens. The
current movement to make public schools more accountable and more
"rigorous" has failed to close Achievement Gaps and has created
inequities that harm many students and communities.
Since the beginning of this year, many legislators and
critics have dubbed Common Core "developmentally inappropriate." They
argue that the new Math and
wunc.org|By Reema Khrais
When defenders of the Common Core say these standards are
tools that…
livingindialogue.com
An examination of students’ transition to high school shows
too many are not…
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
The
end results of these conflicts are damaging to our society as a whole. To assume that our schools can fix all of the
problems we face, while at the same time catering to the needs of special
interest groups is unrealistic at best.
We have always had our struggles around education, but we also have seen
great successes emerge from our schools.
Creating a positive climate around our public schools will serve to
build community, increase student engagement and move our society in a socially
just direction.
By next fall, New
Orleans will have only five public schools—those
operated by...
rethinkingschools.org
Union president Mike Lipp says teachers are apprehensive
over new evaluations of their work...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
School officials say a variety of circumstances led to the
unusually large number...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
At the same time we face
many struggles around public education, there is also reason for hope. Educators are organizing, becoming more aware
and involved and working to control the pathways that we take in educating our
students. It is only through a joint,
collaborative effort that we will be able to change the current course of
public education, but together we can make that happen.
The Power of Teacher CollaborationBy Lily JonesJuly 18, 2014
12:20 pmTeaching is simultaneously one of the hardest and one of the most
rewarding jobs in the world. We often say that students make it worth it, but
there’s something else that can make or break your happiness as a teacher: your
colleag…
teachingchannel.org
Tonight, WISN-TV reported that Milwaukee Public School
enrollment was up...
mteaunion.tumblr.com
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . Wisconsinites have an opportunity to make a strong political, social
and economic statement this November.
While we know there are many obstacles it is up to us to turn out, vote,
and earn the government we need to move us forward.
Voters headed to the polls Tuesday to vote on a number of
local election races. Check back after 8 p.m. for live results feeds.
jsonline.com
The Post's Chris Cillizza called the Wisconsin
governor's race a possible...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
Conservatives’ traditional-values script is being used
against them as...
nytimes.com|By John Harwood
John Dickerson: Why Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker risked
criticism from the right to attack his Democratic opponent
cbsnews.com
His Democratic opponent is running the right race.
washingtonpost.com
The Bad . . . One of the barriers in the way of a successful November election is
the confusion and apprehension caused by the Voter ID law and subsequent
Supreme Court decision.
Voter impersonation is a dumb way to steal an election,
which is why it rarely...
washingtonpost.com
How low can the Wisconsin Supreme Court go? It's a serious
limbo competition. But the court's voter ID decision two weeks ago is right
down there.
isthmus.com
Another issue is the
amount of money that will be spent to influence the election.
A data visualization detailing Scott Walker and Mary Burke's
campaign...
sheboyganpress.com
There are many issues that
are of importance in the November election, but the economic ones will be among
the most important to voters and will have the greatest effect on the
outcome. The problem is that the
economic "facts" are more difficult to comprehend and easier to
"spin" than one might imagine.
Depending on who you listen to, and what their political goals are, we
are either in a recovery, or headed towards another recession. The simple reality is that many Wisconsinites
are not seeing the benefits of any recovery and this happens for many
reasons.
The U.S.
is still producing around $800 billion a year less in goods and...
nytimes.com|By Neil Irwin
A new report for the U.S. Conference of Mayors shows that
low-paying hospitality...
businessweek.com|By Peter Coy
Organized labor and
worker's rights are topics that will stir up a great deal of controversy in the
next few months. This is unfortunate,
the rights of workers to organize is something that has historically benefitted
not only workers, but the economy in general.
How we go about defending the rights and privileges of workers is very
important.
The latest labor reform proposal to make unionizing a civil
right sounds helpful,...
truth-out.org|By Barry Eidlin
Labor unions in Wisconsin
will have their day in the sun again, according to Joy...
wpr.org
We also need to remember
that how we spend our money influences more than just our own individual
financial situation.
Borders filed for Bankruptcy. But before they did, this Chicago store had a...
elephantjournal.com
The Ugly . . . The issues around the unrest in Ferguson
can't be ignored, but are not easily explained or understood. As a society we need to put issues of race,
equity and social justice at the forefront of our dialog around making our
communities safe for all citizens. As
our political, social and economic divisions widen, hatred and fear
increase. This trend only builds more
and more tension between different groups in our society.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/14/kkk-raising-money-for-hero-ferguson-cop-who-shot-jewish-controlled-black-thug/
#PostRacismAmerica
As I noted yesterday, I can't help but to compare law
enforcement's reaction to...
thedailybanter.com
Fancy weapons, 9/11 and fear of crime turned local forces
into small armies.
motherjones.com
Racial tension is a long
standing problem in our society, but the divisions and fear go beyond
race. We can find many examples in our
history of conflicts that have erupted between many different groups.
Here’s a bit of history that you probably never learned in
school.
upworthy.com|By Brandon Weber
As with any societal
problem, the solution lies in the common citizens and our responses to events
and attitudes.
Dorothy Brown: Power structure dominated by whites in town
that is 68% black. Those who sat by silently after Michael Brown shooting
should be voted out
cnn.com|By Dorothy A. Brown
Michael Johnson of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County is
slated to bring...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
Chaos broke out in the streets of Ferguson on Friday night, the same day that
police announced the name of the officer who killed unarmed teenager Michael
Brown and released footage appearing to show Brown stealing cigarettes from...
www.huffingtonpost.com
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